Originally I had not planned to race this race due to family commitments, but a last minute change freed me up and off I went. I raced Cat 3’s again and the usual suspects where there with Tyler Olson and Jordan Cullen. A newer racer to me that is going well is Nigel Kinney, a mechanic at Gear West. SPBRC had a few riders there and were intent on making the race hard with a rider going off ASAP from the start. I hovered around the front and put in a few digs on the group to keep the pace high. The course was rolling, but nothing that was definitive for a selection and the winds were quiet. The first lap was fast, but the second really slowed down once we hit the back section. Jordan kept making small acceleration to pull out riders or to try to tire legs of his competitors. However, nothing really seemed to make a difference. One thing I did notice was that Tyler Olson who is usually upfront covering every gap, was much more reserved and seemed to be saving himself for the finish.
Coming into the 3rd lap we were all together again. I kept waiting for attacks to come, but nothing really did. A few accelerations, but all was brought back quickly. Coming into the last steep hill before the finish, Jeff Anderson rolled up to the front and I got on his wheel. I kept yelling at him to keep the pace high with an thought of trying to go on the hill and hold unitl the finish. However, as soon as I made the jump around Jeff about 1/2 way up the hill, I noticed that everyone was just sitting on my wheel. So I eased off and just rode tempo through the remainder of the hill. Things got a bit swarmy as we neared the final turn and Jeff made one more move to string things out before the turn coming through on my right and literally shoving me out of the way so he could get through. I jumped and ended up sitting 3rd wheel with Nigel coming through the turn on the inside. As we made it around the turn and the accelerations came, my legs were dead. This is the 3rd race in a week where I felt my legs did not have the required snap to finish strong. I rolled in a dissapointing 8th on the day.
I felt kinda crappy after the race and by Monday had the Stomach flu. My legs as a whole are fried and I have decided to take the week off from racing. This is mentally really hard for me as my instinct is to be out there riding hard, but the goal for this week is easy training and manage the diet. I hope to be back to racing next Tuesday at the State Fair Crits.
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